


Priceless Polyester

by amzyplant



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Based on a Conan Gray Song, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coran is Allura (Voltron)'s Uncle, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, i am sorry i wrote this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25954309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amzyplant/pseuds/amzyplant
Summary: Lance's world changed when he met Keith. He brought happiness and friendship into his life, something he'd never had before. After nearly two decades of friendship, feelings that neither of them wanted; feelings that the two men had attempted to keep at bay for a long time, start to resurface. Will their friendship survive this momentous love? Or, will the stars fail to align?The klance soulmate au based upon Conan Gray's Kid Krow album that no one asked for, but I decided to write anyway.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	1. Prologue: The End Of The Story

**Author's Note:**

  * For [S my platonic soulmate](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=S+my+platonic+soulmate).



> This was originally going to be a oneshot, but I spoke to my friends about it and now here we are.  
> Keith and Lance are so dear to my heart. They are my favourite Voltron ship and like the rest of the characters in the show, really changed my life (ewwwww so cliche). After listening to Conan Gray's album for the 7000th time, and redrafting this au too many times, here we are.  
> I really hope that you enjoy this au, it does mean the world to me that you have taken a look at it because it has a piece of my heart entwined into the story. I appreciate you checking it out and just know I am really thankful for it.

Everyone had heard the rumours. You could not escape them, they followed you everywhere you went. Chestnut Drive morphed from a picturesque view to a crime scene full of police vehicles and yellow tape. Yellowwood became a town full of secrets, suspicion, and gossiping. The incident was practically the only thing anyone talked about for a week. No one was too sure as to why they had done it, everyone had their suspicions though. Especially students at the local college, who had seen the two victims, mere hours before everything happened. Gossip turned into blame and three students dropped out within days.

The following Monday came around and the rumours that had been circulating were deemed true. The local newspaper, the school newspaper and newspapers of the surrounding areas had the incident plastered on their front pages. The tragedy was the main story on the regional news program. The small town was now headlining county and nationwide news shows, quickly gaining more rumours and suspicions from it.

‘The modern-day Romeo and Juliet.’ ‘Star-crossed lovers take their lives.’ ‘Teenage soulmates: a double suicide.’ ‘Yellowwood soulmates driven to take their own lives by their parents.’

Their deaths were romanticised, which is not surprising. People wanted to be blissfully unaware of what happened. No one wanted to remember what abuse they had witnessed over the years. People forgot about the name calling, the hair pulling, the fistfights. Most notably, everyone involved chose to forget about the night of the 12th of December, the day before it happened. The party that lead to bruises, broken wine bottles and blood that stained the carpet red. The easiest option for everyone was to liken it to the notable Shakespeare play and blame the parents, so they did not have to blame themselves.

When the moving vans appeared a few days later, it was not surprising. The families could not handle the abuse anymore. They had received death threats from neighbours, a public mocking. They were deemed murderers. Their futile feud had cost them everything that they held most dear, and no one would let them forget that. But even without the constant public harassment, how could they ever forget?

Each family woke up every morning and went to bed each night with the realisation that their beautiful children were gone. If they had only sat down and listened to them, instead of ignoring the love that they shared. If they had have chosen not to make their children choose between the person that they loved and their families, maybe this would not have happened.

Before they left, after the funerals, the two families had commissioned a painting to be placed in the college that their children were students of. A replica of the ink that laid upon the skin of their respective daughter and son’s forearm. Their soulmate tattoos. The painting of the cherry blossom branch was displayed in one of the hallways, amongst letters that students had written to the couple and pictures of the two.

The townsfolk slowly began to live normal lives again, leaving the incident behind them. The story only resurfaced once, a few weeks after the teenager’s deaths. This time, when it was announced that both mothers had ended their own lives, there were no rumours. There were no headlines, no gossiping, and no speculation. Everyone knew that guilt and blame manifest quickly and their deaths were the result of it.

Few people know what happened to the fathers. Some say they moved again, this time far away where they could heal and not be reminded of the situations that had occurred. Others speculate that they had both passed, heartbreak consuming their entire beings. Most people chose not to say anything.

Yellowwood moved on, the tragic story of their town turning into something of the past. The only remnants were the memories that people held of the two children secretly holding hands and laughing, which faded with time. The painting on the wall of the college was removed a few years later and placed into storage with the letters and pictures that surrounded it. Parents petitioned for its removal as they deemed it harmful for their children to be reminded of tragedy every day.

The only thing that was permanent, that remained long after memories faded, were the two headstones on the lawn, hidden deep inside the graveyard, surrounded by red chestnut trees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This prologue is quite short because I want the story to focus mainly on the relationship between Keith and Lance, but it was necessary for parts of the story that appear later on to make sense.  
> The next part of this au will be updated shortly, I am currently editing it.  
> Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoy the rest of this au.  
> -Amzy xx


	2. When We Were Younger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance become friends, aka I project my former gifted kid childhood mindset on Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya,  
> This is gonna be the chapter (very loosely) based upon the song Little League. This did take me quite a while to finish, because I am a bit of a perfectionist and changed it around 5 times. It is longer than the previous chapter, as is shows how Lance, Keith, Pidge and Hunk become friends spanning 5 years, from ages 6 to 10/11.  
> Anyways, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and I will see you again in the end notes!
> 
> Tw/ bullying and physical assault

***Aged 6***

Keith moved to Yellowwood a year ago and the only thing that had made him feel somewhat safe in this strange new country and town was his brother, Shiro, who reminded him of all the parts of Tokyo he missed; his parents who, on a daily basis, try and make him as comfortable as possible; and football. Although the sport had never really been Keith’s thing, but after his older brother dragged him to the park around the corner to play it quickly became something that he loved. Keith knew that Shiro had been playing for years and it made him feel welcomed and grateful that he would bring him into his life like this.

Keith had been alone for most of his 6 years of existence. His mother left when he was little which meant that his dad had to do twice the work to afford bills and other expenses. Keith had spent most of his time after his mum left at his neighbour’s house which he didn’t mind too much. The couple were around is own parents age with no kids of their own. In the daytime, mostly when Keith was there, the woman, who used to be a chef, made delectable little foods that Keith would demolish as soon as his little eyes saw them. On the husband’s days off, the couple used to take him on day trips to Tokyo, as they only lived an hour away from the big city.

Keith liked Tokyo a lot. He liked the feeling of the city, it made him feel safe even though the city itself was huge. He liked looking up at the sky and seeing all of these tall buildings surround him. Most people would feel trapped in scenarios like this, but Keith felt like he was being comforted, like they were surrounding him into a big, warm hug. A hug that reminded him of those that his dad gave him when left and returned home from work each day.

He doesn’t remember much about the day his dad passed away. There are only feint memories, like that he had just come back from a day trip to his favourite city, where he had delighted in ice cream and visited a zoo. It felt comforting in Tokyo, but when he drove over the mass of water and made his way towards his home, things started feeling a little dark. What stood out to Keith in his memory was that when he got home instead of his dad being there to greet him and pull him into an almost bone crushing hug, he wasn’t there. Instead, he was replaced by two strange men he had never seen before, who’s eyes made the little boy weary.

He saw Tokyo one last time before he left Japan. The trip was not fun or exciting, in fact Keith wished for nothing more than to not see Tokyo on this day. It was his last day in his native country, the day his adoptive parents and brother brought him home. The young boy had only visited the airport but in the car ride there his head was glued to the window, taking one last look at the city he adored, and engraining the skyline into his little beady eyes. With one last look out of the airplane window, Keith swore to himself that, one day, he would be back.

Keith’s dad was a muscly American, who at first glance would have probably startled the average person. To Keith he was a big, cuddly teddy bear, who had the most cheerful eyes he’d ever seen. His father had taught him English as he grew up, so it was pretty easy for Keith to communicate once he arrived in Yellowwood. The young Japanese boy just wished that his big teddy bear could have come with him so he wouldn’t feel as nervous as he did, but Keith knew that was impossible. What made him feel less anxious about this monumental move, however, was that Shiro, his adoptive brother, spoke Japanese and for the first 5 months Keith was there, he spoke it to him. Those 5 months, when Keith refused to leave the house, as he was too scared, Shiro would go out to take pictures of the town and show them to Keith. One of the first things that Shiro and Keith spoke about was how Shiro was from Tokyo and that that was Keith’s favourite place in the whole world.

Keith liked that Shiro’s eyes sparkled when he spoke about something he was passionate about, and the younger brother used to find himself staring at them when he was scared. When Keith started feeling more and more comfortable with his adoptive brother, the two boys used to stay up till 2am talking about Japan, Shiro showing him the pictures he had of Tokyo, ones that he brought to England when he was first adopted. One day, when Keith felt that he was ready, Shiro took him around the town they now both called home, taking even more pictures, that when they arrived back at their house they would relate back to Shiro’s pictures of Tokyo, pointing out differences and similarities between the town and the city.

It was a few weeks later when Keith was dragged out to the park with Shiro, on the pretence of a walk but Keith could see that Shiro had brought his ball along. The first time that the younger brother attempted to kick the ball, he had missed it completely, and then the momentum of his leg flung himself backwards, landing on his back with a thud.

After a second of trying to catch the air that had been smacked out of his lungs, Keith started laughing. Not a fake kind of laugh, where you hold back a touch. Keith’s laughter was bellowing out of him, gaining glances from other parkgoers. One he had calmed slightly, he manged to get up, with the help of his brother and carry on trying to kick the ball until he succeeded and let out that laugh again. 

Shiro told his parents, when Keith had gone to bed that night, that Keith’s laugh was one of the most beautiful sounds that he had ever heard. It was infectious, raw, and filled with so much happiness. He also confessed that if Keith weren’t there, he honestly would have cried over it. For Shiro, after hearing the young boy cry every night for the first month he moved in; to opening up slightly and eating dinner at the table with him and the rest of their family. Now, he was finally laughing in front of him, and to Shiro, it felt as though Keith was now comfortable and happy and that was all he wanted for him.

Keith was grateful to Shiro for a lot of things. He was grateful that he cared about him enough to show him his personal pictures of his home, and that he went around taking pictures of Yellowwood for him. He appreciated that he used to stay up with him to talk about anything and everything, and that he never rushed him into doing things he was not ready for or comfortable with. He was overwhelmingly grateful that he had always treated him like a brother, from the second he stepped foot into their family home. He was thankful that he and his parents had given him another chance at a family. Keith was so happy that he took him out to play football, because with that he found another family and a second home, with the under 11s football team.

***

Keith had been at the football club for approximately 6 months before the boy with the cute little glasses and colourful wristbands showed up. It had taken him a while to get used to the people in the team, but there were two other kids that he had grown close to. The first was the lovable defender who lived a couple streets over from Keith, Hunk.

Keith hadn’t really had the best introduction to the rest of the football team, as when the coach asked him to introduce himself, the 6-year-old just stood there stiff as a rock until he started crying and sat out for most of the first game. While Keith was trying to calm himself down enough to be able to stand up and try to play a game of football, he did not see Hunk walk over to where he was. In fact, Keith only registered that Hunk was there when he heard a voice, lower than his own. ‘Hi, I’m Hunk, what’s your name?’ Keith looked up to see a pair of innocent brown eyes looking at him, a smile sat on the boy’s face. ‘Umm, hi. I’m Keith.’ The other boy sat down next to Keith and while Keith didn’t say much else for the time Hunk was sitting next to him, the other boy continued to chat to him until Shiro picked him up after practice was over.

At the next practice, when Keith walked over to the rest of the boys, Hunk smiled at him and announced to the group that he was Keith and that everyone was to be nice to him or Hunk would see to them. Keith laughed at that and after a few practises, realised he had found himself a friend.

His next friend came in the likes of Pidge, who was the younger sibling of Shiro’s friend and fellow footballer Matt. Pidge never played football, they only ever came when Matt and Shiro assisted the Under 11 team, but they left a lasting impression on Keith.

The team had been playing for around an hour when the coach called for a break, which Keith was delighted about because at this point, he was getting tired. He went to sit down with Hunk and was surprised to see another kid sitting down next to his new friend. Hunk immediately introduced them as Pidge, stating that they were Matt’s younger sibling and that they were cool. Keith wasn’t a people person, so attempting to not have a slight panic over this new person was hard, but he managed not to, and greeted the other with a nod of his head.

That is how they sat until there was around 10 minutes left of the break, when Pidge interrupted the silence to complain about this book they were reading. Keith had never seen someone speak with such passion in their voice and when Keith looked at his brother’s friend’s sibling, their eyes were the first thing that caught his attention. The brown in their eyes was completely different to Hunk’s, even though they were the same shade. Hunk’s eyes contained a protective essence and seemed tame compared to Pidge’s, their eyes looked as though they could burn holes through a building. He found that his eyes were glued to Pidge’s passionate ones for what felt like forever, until they were cut off by the sound of a whistle and the coach shouting them back over.

Keith later likened the younger's eyes to those of his older brothers and the next time Pidge was at practice made sure to talk to them about the book that they were reading. Keith was so excited about the thought of reading it, that he forced Shiro to the bookstore before going home. After he finished tea and his homework, Keith slumped onto his bed and began reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Little did he know how obsessed he would become with this story of friendship and in turn the friendship he gained with Pidge over this one book.

Now, on this aforementioned day when the cute kid with curly hair and glasses joined the football team, Keith was messing around with Shiro, attempting to tackle and retrieve the ball off of his brother who was twice his age. Now whilst Keith was a timid introvert, he was extremely competitive and would do anything to win. Which was why after Shiro stated that Keith would never be able to tackle the ball off him, Keith was ready to prove him wrong.

Now the thing about Keith is when he gets exceptionally competitive about something, all of his surroundings blur and he can’t see anything other than things associated with the task at hand. Now normally this is okay because there is no one around him, but here, he is out in public, surely things will be fine right? Nope. Whilst running full throttle towards his brother, Keith suddenly collides with something hard and immediately falls to the ground, face hitting the ground hard.

After blinking a few times, the young Japanese boy moved his head up off of the ground so see another boy staring up at him, dark blue eyes wide open. Now Keith had seen some beautiful eyes before, but this boy’s eyes were by far the most beautiful. They were like looking into a whirlpool and being sucked in with every second. After catching himself staring at this boy for way too long, Keith climbed up from the small boy that was lying beneath him. Keith cleared his throat, ‘I’m really sorry about that, I wasn’t looking where I was going. Are you okay?’ Keith was scanning the boy below him for potential injuries, when the brown-haired boy on the ground said something. ‘Glasses. Where are my glasses?’ He had pulled himself up onto his knees, his hands aimlessly patting the ground, searching around. Keith spots some chunky black frames on the grass near the boy, leans down and passes them to the kid below him, reaching out a hand when he has the glasses resting safely on his nose bridge. When the smaller boy took his hand, Keith pulled him up off the ground, immediately apologising again. ‘It’s okay. I know it was an accident.’ Keith stares at the other boy for a moment, before smiling slightly. Returning the smile, the brown-haired boy pipes up, ‘I’m Lance McClain by the way, I’m new here.’ ‘Hi Lance, I’m Keith Kogane. Sorry for ruining your first day here.’ Before Lance could respond, the football coach blew his whistle, indicating the start of practice.

Keith doesn’t really remember what happened throughout that practice, he was too busy thinking about Lance’s eyes. He heard once that eyes were the windows to the soul and ever since he has had a small fascination with looking at people’s eyes. Shiro’s eyes had also fascinated him because they were so passionate and filled with love, Pidge’s were always filled with passion and interest and Hunk’s were full of care, kindness, and intrigue. Now Lance’s eyes, on the other hand, they were confusing. Keith just felt lost when he looked into his eyes, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he had just hit his head, if Lance was truly just lost, or if Keith had finally found someone he could not read. Being such an introvert, Keith thought that he had mastered reading people, and normally reading other humans was second nature to him, so why couldn’t he read Lance.

Keith had almost thought himself into a hole in his head when he heard a yelp to his right. Low and behold it was Lance, he was saying something quickly in a language Keith could not understand. Keith was about to return to his thoughts when he saw a finger come his way, pointing at him and waggling around vigorously. The person attached to the finger started shouting at him. ‘So, you knock me to the ground, nearly give me a concussion and break my glasses. And NOW, I have to compete with you for the position I have been playing since I could walk. Oh, Kogane, it’s on!’

Keith just stands there for a moment or two, attempting to grasp the situation before walking over to his brother and leaving. The young boy doesn’t like confrontation and he was not going to sit there and get into an argument over something that he had already apologised for. If Lance wanted to cause a scene about it, then go ahead, but there was no way Keith was going to sit through it. While walking off he hears Lance shout something along the lines of ‘rival’ at him, but he wasn’t really listening to him. Keith was just thinking how a person with eyes like water, so calm and yet so lost, can turn into a fire breathing lion.

***

The thing about Lance was that he thrived in competitive scenarios. Or at least he liked to think he did. A healthy competition never did any harm to Lance. In fact, for the majority of his past experiences, it helped him greatly. Lance had always been very ambitious and being told that he would never succeed in anything academic, simply because English was not his first language sparked something in him.

Lance moved to England from Cuba around a year ago but had moved to Yellowwood around 2 weeks prior to joining the football team. Despite having relatives from the United Kingdom, Lance had never learnt English, so moving here was quite a challenge for him and his entire family. Lance didn’t understand his mother when she said it was what is best for their family, but he chose to believe her anyway, because if anyone was right, it was going to be her.

Lance had always had a very close relationship with his family, and he loved them unconditionally. After his abuelo passed, and his abuela moved in with him, his parents and his siblings, he grew immensely close with her. When they first moved to Southern England, he would come home from school and sit on his abuela’s lap and read a book to her. This is how he chose to improve his, and his family's English.

Lance knew he was never supposed to hear what his teachers said, he knew he was eavesdropping. It was lunchtime and he was on the way over to the staff room to ask his teacher about some homework he had been struggling on. After entering the hallway that leads to the staff room, he heard his name and instinctively drew back to hide behind the wall and listen to his Maths and English teacher talk. Lance will never forget the words that left his English teachers’ mouth, ‘I’m sure he’s smart, but he’s never going to go anywhere in life with an English level that bad.’ Lance never thought he was a spiteful person, but when he heard that, he made a promise to himself that if anyone said anything like that about him again, he would prove them wrong.

The look on the face of that teacher when he finished his last day at that school with the highest English reading level in his class full of native English speakers, will stick with the young Cuban boy forever. In fact, once the coach of the new football team he’d joined announced that he would have to compete for the football position he had played ever since he learnt how to kick a ball, approximately a month after he learnt to walk, that face appeared again.

Lance refused to lose in anything, and he would rather die than lose to the stupid black-haired boy that had toppled him over mere hours before. Even if the other boy did seem sweet, some things were more important than making friends, and that was winning. 

His mother, later on when he came home after practice, said that he was being ridiculous and that because it was a new town, he needed to make some friends, but as the young boy pushed his glasses up to sit more comfortably on his nose bridge, he reminded her that he ‘never had any friends at our old house, so why should I start now?’

If Lance were honest to himself, he would agree that he was lonely. He really wished he had people that liked him and wanted to be friends, but no one had ever spoken to him and he had never been the type to talk to someone first. It wasn’t because he was an introvert, it was mainly due to the fact that he was still very self-conscious about his English and he didn’t want people to laugh at him again, like they had done before. And although he would deny it to anyone who asked, he really did wish that he hadn’t exploded at Keith, because if he had lost his one opportunity at making a friend here in Yellowwood, Lance was certain he’d feel lonelier than he ever had before.

***Aged 7***

A few months after joining the Yellowwood Under 11’s football team, Lance turns up early. After spending the majority of the day at school, trying to avoid as many people as possible and studying until the last bell rang, Lance made his way home, the smell of his mother’s cooking filling up more of his body with every step he took. Inhaling his food, Lance finished his plate and proceeded to finish any sort of work he had to finish before changing into his football gear and leaving 30 mins earlier than he usually would.

The walk to the football club only took a few minutes and as he reached closer to the aforementioned field, the sound of claps and cheers grew louder. It took him a few seconds to realise who the owner of the noise was and when he finally saw the black-haired boy, Lance almost ran back home. This thought was, however, interrupted by the captain of the Under 16’s team ushering him over and being the kind of boy Lance was he wasn’t going to disobey an elder.

A game starts between the three boys, Shiro placing himself in goal so he can keep an eye on the two youngsters, mainly Lance who was currently shooting daggers at Keith with his eyes, the latter nonchalantly dribbling the ball between his feet. Shiro had been privy to plenty of the conversations, well if you could even call them that, between his brother and the little Cuban boy. For the most part they include Lance glaring at Keith until he walks away and then the one-sided shouting ensues and he ends up walking Keith home. Shiro crossed his fingers and jumped to receive a ball Keith just pelted into the net just to the right of him. The elder throws the ball back, not missing the look of disappointment on Lance’s face as Keith receives the ball.

For the next couple of rounds, Shiro makes a mental effort to throw the ball more towards Lance, after a receive, and sure enough the curly haired boy’s face brightens up and Shiro sees him smile for the first time ever. The 14-year-old is brought back to one of the happiest moments of his Lance when Lance scores a goal against him, unbeknownst to the two 7-year-olds Shiro had made sure to let the ball hit the back of the net, the eruption of laughter made it all worth it. Lance had a laugh that almost rivaled his younger brothers and Shiro knew we has going to be eternally grateful for hearing it.

Lance’s laughter was cut off by the sound of a whistle signifying the start of practice. Shiro makes sure to give both boys a pat on the back before leaving to find the coach, managing to catch a glimpse of a smile Lance gave Keith before the start of practice. The older boy wasn’t surprised in the slightest when the freckled, glasses wearing Cuban boy arrived early to practice the next day as well.

***Aged 8***

It had been a year since Lance’s first session at the Yellowwood football club and the boy was becoming more and more angry by the day. It wasn’t as though Lance was a bad player, he practiced every single day, so why was it that he had never been in an official game. His nickname was now bench warmer, and every time the young boy heard it a little piece of his love of football died with it.

Being the competitive person he is though, he never let the names bring him down and each time he heard it, it also ignited a fire that propelled him to practice harder. Each morning before school, he’d wake up and have a dribbling practice in his back garden, never failing to see his mother keeping an eye on his from out of the kitchen window. Whilst lunchtime and after school were reserved for studying and reading to his family, a habit he’d picked up in London and not let go since, break times were free reign for football related activities. 15 minutes, if used effectively, could be incredibly useful. Whilst some members of his family had put his hard work down to spite, everyone remembered the night Lance came home from school in tears caused by that teacher, he knew that he was so willing to practice so hard was because he enjoyed it.

As the days and weeks past, Lance’s grades and the amount of time he’d play on the pitch improved. His grades excelling considerably more than his football improvements, but Lance didn’t care because he’d beaten out everyone in his grade. Well, except for Pidge, who he’d granted a worthy champion and someone he’d gladly admit defeat to because if you could beat out Lance who had the reading age of someone twice his age, then you were the real deal. The one person he still would not concede to was Keith Kogane, and Lance was sure he could finally beat him out for a spot on the official starting line-up.

After a break time full of speaking to his teacher about different extra work he could have to keep ahead of his classmates and push himself a little more, Lance decides to dedicate his lunchtime to football practice and makes his way over to the field behind the lunch hall. Taking the football out of his be starts to dribble around some of the trees outlining the metal fence at the perimeter of the primary school.

20 minutes passes and Lance decides to start kicking the ball a further distance and run to kick it in the opposite direction, continuing the action again. When he accidentally kicks the ball a bit too far, he knows he’s in trouble. 3 kids walk over to him picking his ball up in the process, chucking it at Lance’s head. The brown-haired boy stumbles backwards, hearing a snap and his glasses drop off of the perch on his nose. Lance can hear the boys saying something, but it is overridden by the ringing in his ears. Lance lets out a ‘Please just leave me alone.’ Before being cut off by a punch to his stomach that left him panting on the ground searching for his glasses. He hears one of the three boys snicker about his heritage before another fuzzy image enters his vision.

When Lance finally finds his glasses and places them on his nose, rejoicing when they weren’t broken, he sees a hand stretched out to him. Looking up that familiar arm, his eyes land on the blue grey eyes of his self-professed rival, hints of purple are glistening in the sunlight. Lance accepts the hand and Keith helps him up, the younger letting out a little ‘thank you’ before picking up his ball and looking around for the three boys who had long gone. ‘They’re not here anymore, if that’s what you’re wondering. They went back over there’ the black-haired boy pointed over to the left of them, ‘they won’t be back here anytime soon.’ Lances gives a little nod and Keith walks off leaving Lance alone with his ball and his thoughts. Maybe Keith wasn’t so bad after all.

***Aged 9***

After the incident at lunchtime, Keith spends his break times sat on the ground fiddling with his fingers and watching Lance. He watched the way he kicked the ball with ease and dribbled with precision. Slowly he began to watch how Lance’s face contorted when he’d practice and how his curls bobbed up and down when he’d run and how sometimes he’d have to push his glasses back up his nose. What Keith watched the most though was how the light reflected off of his bright blue eyes, being sucked into the, again, quite like when they had first met. Lance’s aura was magnetising, and his eyes really were the icing on the cake. Keith spent what felt like an eternity watching Lance, and still the young boy couldn’t read him, Lance was an enigma that Keith wanted to solve.

Keith got closer to solving the puzzle of the 9-year-old Cuban boy when he was struck from his mindless state by the exact boy, he was thinking about, standing in front of him, his hands fiddling with his fingers, mimicking what Keith was doing with his own. ‘Um, I was…wondering if, um…. maybe, I… Doyouwantoplaywithme?’ Keith’s eyes were fixed on the shy boy’s eyes, watching how unsure they were, finally, for the first time, reading Lance slightly. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t hear what you said. Can you say it again, please?’ Keith knew his eyes would be glistening the same way the younger boys were, hoping that Lance couldn’t read what Keith was thinking right now.

After a big breath, that looked as though Lance had sucked in all the oxygen in the world, the other boy stopped fiddling with his fingers and spoke. ‘I was just wondering if you wanted to practice some football with me. I, um… I see you watching me every day and so I just assumed you waned to play too. Do you?’ Keith smiled pushing down a strange feeling in his stomach and stood up. ‘Fine, but I’m not going to go easy on you sharpshooter.’ Lance’s eyebrow quirks up at that, questioning Keith on the new nickname. ‘I just mean you’ve got a really good strike on you. It’s a compliment, don’t worry.’ From the corner of his eye, he saw a blush growing on Lance’s face, Keith ignores it and picks up the ball from off the ground ushering Lance to come and start.

A few weeks pass and Keith’s birthday comes. Keith isn’t really a fan of birthdays, so the day passes as normal, aside from the birthday cake that his dad and Shiro force into his face singing ‘Happy Birthday’ as soon as he comes home from school. Keith isn’t sure where his mother is but that’s something that happens a lot lately. Keith hopes that everything is alright. The only abnormal thing that happens that day is when Keith quits the football team.

The only face that isn’t struck with shock is that of Shiro’s because Keith told him his plans last night before he went to sleep. Keith looks around at his teammates and then to his 3 friends. Hunk looks shocked but more saddened by the big announcement, Pidge assuming the same picture their friend had on their face, and then there was Lance. Keith’s eyes met Lance’s and he saw a glimpse of sadness in his ocean eyes before disappearing and the calming blue of them transfigured into a sea of flames. ‘So, does this mean I am on the starting team now, coach?’ Keith chuckled slightly, what other reaction did he expect from Lance.

Keith sat down at the side of the pitch for the rest of the practice watching Lance take the field by storm, scoring so many times Keith lost count. The fire in his eyes rested there for the rest of the session, only calming when the final whistle blew. Keith could tell he poured his everything into those two hours and Keith smiled to himself, acknowledging that Lance was a better playing than he’d ever be. He had something Keith didn’t the determination. Football for Keith was fun, he’d made a lot of memories with his brother and his friends because of it, but he never had that fire that resided in Lance.

Nodding, Keith stood up off of the ground and walked over to Lance, ‘Remember who to thank when you go pro. Make sure you tell ‘em that it was Keith Kogane that showed you everything you know.’ Keith was sure that it would start Lance off but instead Lance smiled and spoke, ‘Of course buddy.’ It took Keith by surprise until the fire grew back in the Cuban boy’s eyes, ‘I mean can’t be leaving you behind of course. Someone has to remember Keith Kogane who went nowhere with his life.’ The Japanese boy shook his head and laughed, the younger laughing alongside him, speaking again, ‘You’re still gonna spend break with me, right?’ Keith nodded his head, smiling to himself knowing that Lance enjoyed spending time with him as much as he did.

***

Two months have passed since Keith left the football club and he really did feel happier than ever. Seeing Lance play made him happy and knowing that the other boy loved football as much, if not more than him, he would never regret leaving. Spending time with Lance became one of the boy’s favourite things to do.

At first when Lance decided it was the best idea to spend his breaks back inside doing extra work that his teacher gave him, Keith used to watch him through the window. Lance’s aura still pulled him in and if Keith were honest, he hopes that it never stops. He tries to hide that thought though, because it gives him this feeling that encroaches into his stomach that Keith doesn’t like so much, so when Pidge and Hunk find him and drag him over to where they’re playing, he’s quite glad for it.

Some days, however, he isn’t too happy when they try to drag him over to play bulldog with them. The most notable day is when the temperature drops, and it becomes unbearable to sit watching Lance outside so, Keith finds himself walking back into his classroom. When he sees Lance acknowledge his presence by waving him over, Keith is glad he did come back in. He sits down next to the other boy and attempts to do the work with him. Keith knows he isn’t as smart as Lance, because he can barely understand the first question, but with the other boys help, he manages it.

The two spend their break times in each other company for a while until Keith starts to drag Pidge and Hunk along with him, which ends up with Pidge and Lance rambling away about some new book they read and Keith and Hunk looking at each other before laughing. The 4 spent the majority of their time like this, chatting and working and Keith, who is now undoubtedly obsessed with Harry Potter, ranting to his friends about the newest chapter he’d read, arguing with Lance how Draco was just as interesting and compelling as Harry.

During these times, though they would never mention it, Hunk and Pidge would catch Keith staring at the hardworking boy who had now surpassed Pidge in grades. The two friends would share knowing looks as they watched Keith examine how Lance stuck his tongue out slightly when he was concentrating harder than usual. They saw Keith’s eyes light up as he watched Lance adjust his glasses that would usually sit slightly askew on his nose bridge. Moreover, Pidge and Hunk would definitely never talk about these things, but they could see plain as day how Lance brought light to Keith’s eyes, a light that they had never seen in him before.

***Aged 10***

After months of the four 10-year-olds hanging out, they began to open up slightly. The group learned more about Keith’s memories of Japan and his adoption, and Lance’s life in Cuba and London, realising why the young boy was as competitive as he was. Hunk opened up about some bullying that Pidge had basically saved him from. Pidge retelling their friends the story of their dad leaving, and that they were going to become the most famous astrophysicist in the world, so maybe they could see him again. Each memory and story they would share bringing them all closer together and before they knew it, they were inseparable.

When the weather brightened up, the 3 boys would drag Pidge along to the field and play football together. Keith thinks those days held some of his most favourite memories, other than the days they’d spend in the classroom competing for the highest scores in the class. The one-day Keith beats out all three of his friends in a maths test would stick in his mind forever, mainly because of the look on both Lance and Pidge’s faces as the scores were announced, Lance flailing around accusing him of cheating.

The days that brought the most happiness into Keith’s life, were the weekends where they would ride their bikes to the seaside and play for hours in the arcade. The first time Pidge suggests it, Lance refuses saying, ‘how can the arcades be more fun than football?’ Soon enough he would be eating his words. The 4 of them, would save up their pocket money, Shiro giving Keith a few pennies, and when they deemed, they had enough money, they turned up with their bag of 2p coins, ready for a fight.

The first time they went, Lance wastes all of his 2ps on coin machine with a little football boot key ring in it, leaving him with no money and no key ring. Pidge and Hunk wonder around until they find this one machine with prizes that were worth their money and with a rise of both their eyebrows, the competition is instigated. Keith left his three friends, attempting to find a machine he found worthwhile, and with no look he followed the voice of the boy he spends every waking hour of the day with, until all three of his friends are stood in front of him. Keith laughs when he sees what they’re doing. Hunk and Pidge deep in competition, with Lance loudly emceeing the competition to the entire arcade.

Keith ends up finding a machine with a small globe key chain and decides to have a go on it. After his entire bag of 2ps has disappeared and the globe key chain is in the back pocket of his jeans, they set off back home, Pidge on a high from winning their little competition earlier.

The first to arrive back home was Pidge who ran inside to tell Matt how they’d won today, dragging Hunk with them, just to rub the defeat in a tad more. Keith and Lance rode in silence until they arrived at Lance’s house and Keith dropped the key ring he had been keeping in his pocket in Lance’s hand. ‘I just wanted you to know that no matter what happens, you’ll always have me and our little corner of the world in Yellowwood.’

Keith walked home with a smile on his face. A smile that stayed plastered onto his face through dinner, through the slamming doors and the shouting. Through the tears that rolled down his face when he crept from his room to the top of the stairs, watching his mother leave. At least he would always have Lance.

***

The day after they visited the arcade, Lance woke up with a huge spring in his step. He looked down at the chain he attached to his bike lock key last night, thinking of Keith and hoping that he also had the same spring in his step, Lance wanted to beat him in a football match again today.

Lance waited all morning for Keith, who doesn’t show up until halfway through their second lesson of the day just before break. Lance, Hunk and Pidge run out for break wanting to play football and when Lance looks around, he doesn’t see Keith. After looking over and seeing Hunk and Pidge engrossed in an argument about something, Lance sneaks back into the school, heading to their classroom. He reaches the door and the sounds of crying affronts his ears, opening the door he can see Keith sat on the ground leaning against the station of trays they keep their schoolbooks in.

The younger boy closes the door quietly behind him, stalking over to Keith and sitting down next to him. He taps him on the shoulder just to make sure Keith knew it was him and stretches him arm around Keith’s shoulders, tapping his fingers on the black-haired boy’s upper arm. Lance can feel him stiffen under his arm for a moment before Keith visibly relaxes into Lance’s touch, resting his head on Lances chest. The latter lifting his other arm to card his fingers through Keith’s locks attempting to calm the older boy down.

When Keith eventually ceases crying, he looks up at Lance, and Lance stares into his puffy eyes, the saltwater reflecting from the sun, so his eyes appeared purple. Lance wasn’t sure what had happened and thus didn’t know how to comfort his crying friend. So, he mustered the biggest smile he could manage and pulls his bike key out of his back pocket, the key chain dangling from Lance’s hand. ‘Remember Keith, no matter what happens, you will always have me, in our own corner of the world too.’ When Keith smiles up at Lance, the younger is sure that he’s never seen a prettier sight in his life.

***

When the final school bell ends that day, Keith makes his way back to Lance’s house that night, Chestnut Drive was a short walk from his house, so Keith tended to go there a lot. Lance pulls him by his wrist into the back garden and sits down on the swing set.

After a few minutes of swinging in silence, Keith opens up about how his mum had left last night. ‘I don’t know. I am just scared that they’ll all leave.’ Keith sniffled before carrying on. ‘Shiro told me that it won’t happen, that they won’t leave me cause we’re a family, but… I don’t know, Lance. I don’t want to be alone again. I don’t want to have to open up to another family. I can’t do it, not again.’ Keith was sobbing again now, and Lance just sat there patting his back again for a few minutes before speaking. ‘I’m sorry about your mum. But I want you to know that no matter what happens, no matter at all, you will always have me. Always.’

Lance watched as Keith looked up and smiled at him with those eyes that Lance felt could suffocate him and watched him start to swing again. His mind snapped out of Keith’s mesmerising state when his abuela calls the two boys inside for food.

That night both Keith and Lance go to sleep thinking about that key chain, and the little world they had created for themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a lil note here, Keith was born in Kimitsu, look it up if you want to know some lil things about it :)  
> Anyways, I love these 4 lil kids though they're so precious and they deserve the world. Also, Lance is those glasses is the biggest uwu ever!!  
> The next chapter is based upon the song Can We be Friends? and I can't wait for you to read it.  
> Thank you so much for reading and I will see you next time.  
> -Amzy xx


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